Hong Kong -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In energy-sapping conditions , the British and Irish Lions hardly had to bare their teeth to comprehensively beat the Barbarians 59-8 in the first match of their rugby tour to Australia .

`` It was a good run-out and what we wanted . It was a little tougher than the scoreline suggests , '' Lions head coach Warren Gatland said after the match in Hong Kong .

`` I think the scoreline reflected our dominance . I was genuinely very , very pleased with that today . It was tough out there . The players said -LRB- the ball -RRB- was a like a bar of soap with the humidity and the heat . ''

In the hot and sticky night air -- the temperature hovering around 30C in the windless Hong Kong Stadium -- the Lions ran in eight tries to one against the scratch team of internationals that last weekend had lost 40-12 to England .

Led by the normally dynamic captain of Italy , Sergio Parisse , who said the conditions were the toughest he 'd played in , the Barbarians forwards seemed determined to physically test their opposition early on .

Scottish fullback Stuart Hogg , the Lions ' youngest player at 20 , looked to get his tour off on a positive note but the beginning of a scything run a couple of minutes into the match was brought to juddering halt by a crunching tackle by Barbarians center Casey Lualala .

Then after just eight minutes South African Schalk Brits , forgetting any club loyalty , sent a punch towards his Saracens teammate and Lions flyhalf Owen Farrell , earning the Barbarians ' hooker a yellow card and 10 minutes off the field . It could easily have been red .

`` From our point of view , the good thing is that Owen was n't injured or knocked out , and from a rugby perspective I 'm glad -LRB- Brits -RRB- was n't sent off , it was just a yellow card , because it would have been less of a workout for us and the rugby as a spectacle , '' said Gatland .

`` One of the things we 're going the emphasize very strongly is to make sure we keep our discipline . It 's going to be hugely important for us . Sometimes you need to take one for the team , you need to get ` whacked ' and you ca n't retaliate because the consequences of that retaliation can be pretty severe as well . ''

Swinging arms aside , there was little of note to get the 28,643 spectators excited about in a slow-paced first half until Irish lock and match-day captain Paul O'Connell lunged over the line for the first try of the Lions tour .

Soon after , Welsh scrumhalf Mike Phillips ' darting run from the back of a ruck extended the Lions ' lead to 20-3 , while Farrell slotted over a last-minute penalty to make the score 23-3 at halftime .

Another Phillips try , touched down with a swallow dive three minutes after the restart and converted by Farrell , killed the match as a contest and put the Lions 30-3 ahead . The tries then came regularly as the game opened up .

So too did the handling errors , especially for Farrell , who , while dead-eyed with the boot often seemed to have his palms smeared with treacle ; what seemed a certain try for the Lions was denied by Barbarians fullback Jared Payne when he swatted the ball out of the path of Sean Maitland from an overhead Farrell pass .

The lone try for the Barbarians -- a breakaway effort after 58 minutes by Kahn Fotuali'i -- was only limited respite from the one-way traffic as the Lions continued to dictate play .

A misplaced pass by the Barbarians in their own 22 later led to a try for Lions center Jonathan Davies before Welsh winger Alex Cuthbert ran in two tries to push the score to 47-8 , while his compatriots Dan Lydiate and Alun Wyn-Jones completed the rout .

O'Connell was pleased with the performance from a team that has only had a few weeks to bond .

`` You just want to get into it , '' he said . `` We can show guys the video now -LRB- from the match -RRB- the chats will begin amongst players and the tour really starts and takes off from here . For some of us being in camp for three weeks -- three weeks without a game is a long time , so it 's great to get the tour started .

The squad fly to Perth Sunday for their first game against Australian opposition , the Western Force , on Wednesday .

Gatland was content to get his team through their sweltering Hong Kong experience unscathed , and was encouraged by the players ' performances .

`` Going forward I think these players that have played tonight have laid down a marker and the players that get picked and play against the Force they will know they will have to perform , '' the New Zealander said .

`` Today 's performance was n't about Australia it was about us , and us putting down some foundations in place ; the first two or three games are about that .

`` We 'll start concentrating on looking at the Australian sides more closely than we have because the focus has been getting this first game under our belts , we 'll look at the tapes of their recent performances and the buildup to that first Test in Brisbane . ''

`` We 're well aware that in Perth the microscope is going to be on us a heck of a lot more than it has been at the moment . ''

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British and Irish Lions begin tour with a 59-8 win against Barbarians in Hong Kong

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Lions score eight tries against the international selection ahead of trip to Australia

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Coach Warren Gatland : `` I was genuinely very , very pleased with that . It was tough . ''

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Stand-in captain Paul O'Connell opened the try scoring for the Lions